Antifungal compounds from Latin American plants

Abstract

Latin American region comprises six of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, thus constituting one of the planet areas richest in biodiversity. Some efforts have been made to screen plants of the whole region and also of each country, but the amount of studies in each country is not correlated with its vegetal diversity. Regarding antifungal compounds isolated from this region, many structural types that have demonstrated antifungal properties are presented here. These previous studies are important starting points for the development of new antifungal drugs. However, most studies are preliminary and begin and end with in vitro assays without comparative toxicity studies or in vivo tests. Few of them deepen the mechanisms of action and with rare exceptions, no clinical studies were carried out. A close collaboration among Latin American countries one each other and with the whole world is highly needed and might help in the discovery of new natural antifungal structures from Latin American plants.